Archives for category: Teachers and Teaching
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Do You Think Every Child Deserves a Qualified Teacher?

By dianeravitch
July 25, 2017 //
34

The charter school committee of the State University of New York will soon decide whether charter schools will be allowed to hire uncertified teachers. This is a bad idea because teachers must be prepared for a wide variety of children, including children with disabilities and English language learners. Of course, if charter schools are private schools, then it doesn’t matter whether their teachers are well prepared because they are unlikely to encounter the same students as in public schools.

If you think that every child deserves a well-qualified teacher, please send an email to the members of the SUNY charter committee, all of whom were appointed by Governor Andrew Cuomo. The linked message from the Network for Public Education makes it easy to send an email.

Categories Charter Schools, Network for Public Education, New York, Teachers and Teaching

Billionaire Elon Musk Knows What Schools Need to Do–and They Are Already Doing It

By dianeravitch
July 21, 2017 //
18

Elon Musk, tech billionaire, says he has the solution for schools: teach children to ask why. Engage them in constructing things to learn how they work.

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/20/elon-musk-this-question-can-help-fix-the-u-s-education-system.html?utm_source=TopSheet&utm_campaign=5d4d14b0ca-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_07_21&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d40b014331-5d4d14b0ca-176133581

Is this news? No.

Wherever schools have the class sizes and resources and expert teachers they need, that is what they are already doing.

According to his Wikipedia entry, Musk went to a private school in South Africa, where he was bullied and beaten by other students. He doesn’t know much about American education. I wish I had the chance to tell him that the schools in affluent areas are doing what he suggests. That is the ideal.

The schools that are not teaching interactively have overcrowded classes, lack the resources to buy the needed materials, and have inexperienced and overwhelmed teachers. Furthermore, every school–rich and poor–is forced by federal law to spend (waste) time preparing to take standardized tests, which do not reward the critical, inquisitive thinking that you admire. The students who asks “why” and stops to think about questions will be penalized by these simple-minded tests.

Please, Mr. Musk, use your wealth and your platform to help bring your good ideas to every school.

Categories Billionaires, Teachers and Teaching, Testing

Why Oklahoma’s Teacher of the Year Left for Texas, “Kicking and Screaming”

By dianeravitch
July 15, 2017 //
0

Jennifer Berkshire released this podcast about the Oklahoma Teacher of the Year who left his job to teach in Texas. It is part of the Have You Heard series.

Here is an excerpt:


When Oklahoma Teacher of the Year Shawn Sheehan decided to leave his job as high school math teacher for a better paying position in Texas, he didn’t go quietly. Sheehan left “kicking and screaming,” warning Oklahomans that the school’s notoriously underfunded schools are teetering on the brink, even as schemes to privatize education in the state gain momentum.

In the latest episode of the Have You Heard podcast, Jennifer Berkshire talks to Sheehan and other teachers who are leaving their jobs with a bang. Think resignation letters as a form of activism delivered via blog post or video, and sending a powerful message about the state of public education. And as Michigan State University researcher Alyssa Dunn explains, these very public “I Quit” letters are a sign of the time.

Have You Heard: These very public statements from teachers who are leaving the classroom are something of a trend. You argue that they’re a form of protest. Tell us more.

Alyssa Hadley Dunn: I think because so many teachers are experiencing challenging working conditions right now and so when some teachers write their resignation letters, they go viral, because people feel like they are saying what I am feeling and they are speaking for me, even if I feel like I can’t speak for myself. You hear teachers saying things like: “I feel like I have no voice when policies are handed down to me”, “I feel like I’m not as able to be creative in the classroom because my curriculum is being scripted or standardized”, and “I feel like I have to spend a lot of time teaching to the test in this era of high stakes testing and it’s not only harming my students’ learning conditions, it’s harming my working conditions.”

Have You Heard: The teachers you talked to are determined to change the system, even as they’re walking away from it.

Dunn: They feel like their hands have been tied, in terms of being the teachers that they want to be, and they feel like they’re complicit in a broken system if they stay. They’re not indicting the teachers who choose to stay, but they’re saying that “an act of activism, and an act of justice, that I can take is to leave the classroom and to tell people why I’m leaving, so that perhaps the people who stay, the administrators who stay, can use this to make changes for the better.”

Have You Heard: One of the most interesting things you found was that the letters and “I Quit” blog posts that young teachers are writing have a lot in common with teachers who are leaving the classroom after decades. Millenials often get dinged for “bailing,” but the young teachers you talked to seemed to agonize about giving up on their new careers.

Dunn: These were teachers who had really spent their whole lives thinking that they were going to be teachers and then got into the classroom and felt like it was a lot different than what they had anticipated. That was my story too. I’d wanted to be a teacher since 3rd grade. I became a high school teacher in urban schools in Atlanta and I loved my students, but I found the working conditions very challenging, because I was working in a system where it made it difficult to enact justice oriented and student focused learning. Tons of teachers do it every day, but for me, I felt like I was complicit in a system that was oppressing students, in particular students of color.

Categories Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Oklahoma, Privatization, Teacher Pay, Teachers and Teaching

New York: Who Is Behind the Effort to Allow Charter Schools to Hire Uncertified Teachers?

By dianeravitch
July 14, 2017 //
40

In this article, Alan Singer of Hofstra University connects the dots behind the effort to allow charter schools to hire uncertified teachers. He follows the money, and it leads to one man: Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Charters need to hire uncertified teachers because they churn through teachers and need newcomers who can devote long hours to the job without the diversion of a family.

“The finger points at New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Politicians and wealthy business leaders with ties to Cuomo are behind the push to exempt some of the state’s charter schools from hiring certified teachers. It is a move that would weaken University-based teacher education programs, undermine teacher professionalism, and seriously hurt the education of children across the state.

“Cuomo has long been a supporter of expanded and minimally regulated charter schools. In 2014, while preparing to run for reelection, Cuomo spoke at a pro-charter rally on the steps of the State Capitol Building in Albany. In his speech he praised charter school groups and Republican and independent Democrats who were joining with him to “save” charter schools, although there was no movement trying to destroy them. Curiously, Cuomo never discussed pulling the children out of school and shipping them to Albany for a staged rally.

“In 2016, while no one was paying close attention, the State Legislature with Cuomo’s endorsement extended the regulatory authority of the Trustees of the State University over charter schools. The SUNY Charter Institute, a sub-committee of the Board of Trustees, now claims this legislation empowers them to permit charter schools under their jurisdiction to hire uncertified teachers and train them according to their own guidelines.

“The Trustees of the State University of New York currently authorize 165 charter schools in New York State including those operated by some of the most politically connected networks. Six SUNY charter schools operate in the Capital Region (Albany and Troy), six are in Buffalo, two are on Long Island, and over 140 are in New York City. The New York City charters include seven sponsored by Carl Ichan, ten affiliated with Achievement First, and 38 Success Academy Network Schools operated by Eva Moskowitz. Ichan is a corporate raider and real estate magnate with ties to the Trump Administration. Achievement First is connected to former New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein who left the city’s Department of Education to work for Rupert Murdoch of News Corp. Eva Moskowitz is New York City’s Charter School Queen with political ties to Andrew Cuomo and hedge fund companies and foundations.

“According to a 2015 expose by Juan Gonzalez for the New York Daily News, between 2000 and 2015, 570 hedge fund managers made nearly $40 million in political contributions to New York State candidates, including $4.8 million to Andrew Cuomo. Several of Cuomo’s 2014 reelection campaign donors including Carl Icahn, of Icahn Enterprises, Julian Robertson of Tiger Management, and Daniel Loeb, of Third Point LLC, are major supporters of charter schools.”

Cuomo appointed all four members of the SUNY charter school committee that will make the decision.

Cuomo needs the hedge funders to finance the presidential run everyone expects he wants. But, as Alan points out, he also needs the votes of the public so he may be open to suasion.

That is why I hope you will use this link to protest this unwise decision before it is too late.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Cuomo, Andrew, Privatization, Teacher Education, Teachers and Teaching

Tim Slekar: Next Step in Wisconsin’s War on Teachers

By dianeravitch
July 14, 2017 //
30

Having treated teachers shabbily, Wisconsin now finds it needs to take desperate measures to hire teachers: lower standards.

Tim Slekar of Edgewood College in Milwaukee says this is madness.

He writes:

“There is NO NEED for an “emergency rule” that deregulates teacher licensure.

“However:

“There IS AN EMERGENCY need to address the reasons why teachers are fleeing Wisconsin classrooms. and…

“There IS AN EMERGENCY NEED to address the reasons why students are not enrolling in teacher education programs at Institutions of Higher Education.

“Any step that DPI takes to “reduce regulations” actually lowers the standards of the the people that will be charged with the educational and social/emotional welfare of OUR children.

“The TEACHERS OUR CHILDREN DESERVE will never enter our schools through the dismantling process of deregulating the profession and intentionally lowering standards. The standards were put in place to guarantee a level of expertise.

“In summary,

“WE DON”T HAVE AN EMERGENCY THAT REQUIRES DUMBING DOWN THE PROFESSION OF TEACHING.

“WE HAVE AN EMERGENCY THAT REQUIRES COURAGEOUS LEADERSHIP!”

Tim Slekar testified to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction that the teacher shortage is a “manufactured crisis” and it will not be solved by lowering standards.

He is a one-man crusade, fighting for the integrity of the teaching profession in a state led by hostile actors. The people of Wisconsin deserve better leadership but they won’t get it until they vote Scott Walker and his malignant enablers out of office.

Categories Teachers and Teaching

Former Charter Teacher: Why Teacher Attrition is High in Charter Schools

By dianeravitch
July 13, 2017 //
13

Alternet posted an informative article that explains why charter schools churn through teachers. It was written by Rann Miller, who taught for six years in a charter school in Camden, New Jersey.

He writes:

“John was fresh-out-of-college and had never set foot in a city school before. Hired the day before the school year started, he missed out on the two-and-a-half weeks of training the charter organization had given the rest of us on what to expect at a turnaround school in Camden, NJ. John lasted less than a week.

“I’d started the year as a history teacher, relieved to be without the responsibility of my own classroom and homeroom. But after five more teachers followed John out of the school building within the first month, I had both. When I left at the beginning of the next school year, seven more teachers were right behind me.

“When a school loses teachers, by choice or by chance, students are cheated out of continuity, while the goals and objectives of the entire organization can be hindered. In charter schools, including the ones where I taught for six years, this problem is particularly pronounced. Teachers leave charters at significantly higher rates when compared to traditional public schools. Among urban charter schools, it’s not uncommon to see teachers turning over at a rate of 30, 40 or even 50% a year. I’ve witnessed first hand—and experienced—why this is such a problem, and what causes teachers to flee. But I’ve also seen for myself that there are charter schools and networks that don’t mind high levels of teacher turnover. Turmoil and churn work for organizations that are determined to control both the makeup and the mindset of their faculty…

“The weeding process is all about maintaining control where there is none. It serves to remove “troublemakers”: the folks who will hold the organization accountable. For charter leadership looking to maintain sovereignty of mission and mission implementation, teachers who are independent thinkers and teachers with lives outside of schools are as much of a detriment as those deemed incompetent. The teachers who remain either like the Kool-Aid or at the very least are still thirsty.

“Teacher turnover is an effective tool for organizations that seek to shift accountability away from school leadership. High teacher attrition is an accountability loophole. Rather than rethink a mission that prizes drilling over teaching, or addressing why young teachers get burned out or why teachers of color walk away from the very communities they are so passionate about, some charter leaders will often put the blame on the leavers. “They couldn’t cut it,” you’ll hear them say. They’ll insist to stakeholders that some teachers weren’t good enough, while others weren’t the right “fit” for the organizational mission and culture. The charter school’s organizational leadership and mission remain intact; anyone who is not fighting for “our kids” has been let go.”

Read it all. Quite a story.

Categories Charter Schools, Education Reform, Teachers and Teaching, Testing

Speak Out for the Teaching Profession!

By dianeravitch
July 13, 2017 //
7

Many states are planning to lower standards for new teachers, because charter schools can’t recruit enough teachers to fill their staff.

Speak out against lowered standards!

Don’t let them destroy the teaching profession!

Click here and stand up for qualified teachers!

The Network for Public Education invites you to speak up and let the charter authorizers in New York know that every child deserves a well-prepared, professional teacher.

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, Privatization, Teachers and Teaching

New York: Allowing Non-Certified Teachers in Charter Schools Is Not a Done Deal!

By dianeravitch
July 11, 2017 //
31

Correction: I posted this morning that New York would allow charter “teachers” to be ncertified.

Not yet a done deal.

Stay tuned.

Categories Charter Schools, Teachers and Teaching

Roy Turrentine: What Testing Destroys

By dianeravitch
July 10, 2017 //
6

Roy Turrentine, a teacher who frequently comments on the blog, wrote this commentary on how testing warps teaching:

“When I first started teaching, I would occasionally get off the subject for days. One geometry problem sidelined us for three days. Children would offer solutions and I would publicly follow their logic until it obviously failed, then we would take another suggestion.

“It has been years since I had this experience. A friend who taught in a neighboring county shared the same experience. One day we were talking and realized when this stopped happening. It was with the group of children who had gone through the mid 1990s with an emphasis on test scores. Even without the draconian emphasis on testing that came with NCLB, it was affecting the way our students were behaving.

“It made me recall my cousin’s experience in Germany. He was an English teacher in California. Early in his career, he got a chance to teach in Germany for a year on some kind of exchange program. He was struck by how respectful the German kids were and how attentitive as well. But he noted that they were so focused on the exam they had to take to pass the class that anything else would lose their attention.

“Why is it so impossible to convince some of our leaders of the deleterious effects of testing?”

Categories Teachers and Teaching, Testing

Tomorrow Is My Birthday!

By dianeravitch
June 30, 2017 //
26

Tomorrow I will be 79!

My older sister says that it’s all downhill from here, but I’m not going anywhere, not without raising a ruckus.

Carol Burris has created a giant birthday card for me. I hope you will consider signing it.

https://networkforpubliceducation.org/2017/06/help-wish-diane-happy-birthday/

This will be the first time in my life that I ever asked anyone to sign a birthday card that was not for someone else.

From the number of posts you get every day, you know that I work full-time to keep you informed about attacks on our schools and our educators.

No one pays me to do it. I do it because I believe that privatization of public schools is wrong. Attacking teachers is wrong. Attacking the teaching profession is wrong.

If you agree, help me by joining and supporting the Network for Public Education.

We have more than 350,000 members spread across every state. We have the capacity to generate thousands of emails to legislators and members of Congress. We exist to stop Betsy DeVos and her cronies and to fight for better public education for every child.

Join us. That will make me very happy on my birthday!

Categories Accountability, Education Industry, Privatization, Teachers and Teaching
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »